Heritage.

I was just poking around looking for some scotch tape to wrap a present, and ran across some of my favorite family photos (conveniently they were also on a CD...could they make it any easier for a blogger?!), and I decided to share them with the lucky few who read this blog.

My grandmothers:

 

My maternal grandmother, "Mom Mom"

My paternal grandmother, "Grady", on her confirmation day in 1939.

My grandfathers:

My paternal grandfather, "Boppy"

My maternal grandfather, "Paw Paw"

My parents:

My mom, in her grade school years.

My parents on their wedding day.  Can you tell it was low-key?  I think this is one of about four pictures they have of the day.

2,000 miles.

That's how far I drove in the last week and a half! I am home, but it seems almost every weekend is booked up! My friend Laura and I decided yesterday to road trip to Savannah, GA for Memorial Day weekend, so we are heading out on Friday to sightsee, visit Paula Deen's restuarant (I'm appeasing Laura), maybe see Flannery O'Connor's childhood home (my choice), and just relax a little.

After that it is weekend after weekend of visiting people, bridal showers, a mountain trip with college friends, New York for the 4th of July, weddings, and perhaps a road trip to D.C...

I am sad to announce that I left my camera at a bridal shower this past weekend, so I have no pictures of my shenanigans from the past week, but I shall post other people's pictures soon, since I won't be getting it back for a couple of weeks...

Want to write a letter (or e-mail)?

I will post all about my trip home (and haircut!) later, but I had to share this tidbit of information that has me fuming today.

One of my SC senators, Jim DeMint along with 6 other senators has signed a hold letter to prevent the reauthorization of the president's AIDS relief plan. So a bunch of really sick people aren't going to get medicine thanks to them.

Way to go, South Carolina voters! Needless to say, Senator DeMint will be hearing from this South Carolinian.

"Each of the Coburn Seven counts himself pro-life. If a bill came to the Senate floor that would save millions of unborn children, one assumes that pro-life members would push to improve it, accept a few necessary compromises and then enthusiastically support the legislation. It is difficult to imagine why pro-life legislation involving millions of Africans should be viewed differently."
- Author, columnist, and former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson, criticizing Senators Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint, Jeff Sessions, Saxby Chambliss, David Vitter, Jim Bunning, Richard Burr--Republicans who have signed a hold letter preventing action on the reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

And if you feel like it, you can let all of them know that some people are dying because they're playing politics...

**Oklahoma people, you should write Senator Coburn, since he is representing you in the Senate...and also, from what I've been reading, it looks like there is a good chance that PEPFAR will get shelved until next year because of this thing...

So close.

Everyone, rejoice.  Not only is my last exam tomorrow, but with it will come the return of Christie, the faithful blogger.  I haven't had a whole lot of time to read (you should see my summer reading list!) lately, so I will have lots to share in the coming weeks as I dig into some writing that doesn't involve cranial nerve nuclei and the like.

I did, however, read Good News About Injustice recently and thought I would share the thought of Gary Haugen's that stood out the most to me.  Gary was the head of the U.N. investigation into the Rwandan genocide, and he is also a founder of the International Justice Mission that sends lawyers to fight cases of slavery, brutality, etc. in countries where the voices of the oppressed are not being heard.  He had this to say:

"If we really want to know God, we should know something about where he has been - and what it has been like for him to suffer with those who are hurting and abused...He knows that we can never comprehend the smallest fraction of the oppression and abuse that he has had to witness.  But we can know him better if we try to understand something about his character and experience as the God of compassion - the God who suffers with the victims of injustice.

If nothing else, it will help us understand why the God of justice hates injustice and wants it to stop.  If we had to see it and hear it every day like our God does, we would hate it too.  To understand where the God of compassion has been is to begin to understand God's passion for justice.  Justice, for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, is not a good idea, a noble aspiration, a theoretical satisfaction or an impersonal principle - it is his beating heart.  He is "the man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering" who weeps with those who weep (Isaiah 53:3; John 11:33-35)."

His perspective is a really great one to grasp on to, because his life's work has been fighting injustices, and IJM is doing a great work, by putting the world to rights one case at a time.  It's good stuff.

Speaking of good stuff, I've mentioned it before, but I'm really digging Brett Dennen these days. You should check him out.  

This was really a way to procrastinate, so I must get back to work...but my next post will be of my time in Nashville with my friend Blair! Yay!!!